The Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), a collaborative of over 35 community-based and movement support organizations uniting frontline communities to forge a scalable, and socio-economically just transition away from unsustainable energy towards local living economies to address the root causes of climate change on July 9th, sent out a statement in response to the Climate Action Plan announced by President Obama.

Scientists have spoken frequently over the last decade warning of the rising levels of "greenhouse gases" in earth's atmosphere. The increase in these gases has been linked to higher surface tempatures, increased storm activity and rising sea levels. As Science Now reports, these gases are about to reach a milestone high not seen on this planet since the Pliocene era.

On February 17th environmental groups from all over North America gathered for a historic rally in Washington D.C. for climate justice. The Bus Riders Union, Idle No More, Sierra Club and many others marched here in Los Angeles in solidarity with the groups in Washington. Part of the rally was used to bring attention to continuing opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.

The attached document is the statement that CJA/Just Transition Campaign groups are putting out post Sandy. It has evolved out of 2 different pieces that Ife, Kandi, and Movement Generation had drafted. It includes a new quote from a Grassroots Intl partner from Haiti and it names us as community groups & movements engaged in developing a Just Transition campaign.

An article from our allies in the Indigenous Environmental Network as they confront California lawmakers about the inclusion of REDD in CA's Global Warming Solution Act. California is shaping policy that will affect not only local but international solutions to the growing crisis of climate change.

More from the Organizer's Corner ...

Westside bus-only lanes threaten to be cut even more as Bill Rosendahl moves to exempt the 1.8 mile section in Brentwood. Read this LA Streetsblog article outlining the meeting process and the repercussions of this exemption.

After a February 2nd vote on Councilmember Rosendahl's motion to study a
westide exemption from the Wilshire Bus Only Lane, LA Times writes
editorial joins the full Bus-Only lane choir. Read all about it!

From Cancún this year, it was clear that many nations would rather compromise the lives of citizens around the world than take action to curb carbon emissions. Read for more in-depth reasoning for why Bolivia, the only voice of dissent, was against the final U.N. climate agreements from the COP16.

Watch these segments from DemocracyNow! from the COP16 climate negotiations in Cancún. These are highlights of the actions and activism around the conference and how civil society was shut out of this supposedly democratic conference

Results from Cancún were disappointing, not requiring developed nations to take action to solve this current climate crisis. Bolivia stood out as a dissenting voice from accepting the inadequate document, but was not enough to make an impact. Read this blog from Climate Connections for more analysis.

Yesterday's MTA Board vote was a historic one for the 500,000 Black, Latino and working class bus riders of Los Angeles who will soon enough benefit from the time savings and reduction air pollution and green house gas emissions projected by the implementation of the Wilshire Bus Only Lanes project. The project is projected to get at least 2000 people out of their cars onto the bus!

We also wanted to share with you the letter we just sent to the MTA Board urging them not to cave to the white, wealthy NIMBYs in Condo Canyon and to maintain the full 8.7 mile Bus-Only. We scoured MTA's EIR on the project and the private study paid for by the Condo Canyon NIMBYs...

Here's a quick update. As you know, the MTA is considering compromising the Wilshire Bus-Only Lanes project by caving to the demand of wealthy homeowners in Condo Canyon to remove their section of Wilshire from the BOL plan. Other groups of wealthy Westside residents have gotten word of this and gone on the offensive against the bus-only lanes.

We are at a critical stage in the long struggle to win a Bus-Only
Lane (BOL) on Wilshire Boulevard. Let's be clear: In spite of the speculative numbers being put out by
Supervisor Yaroslavsky, there is no hard evidence that supports the removal of this section from the BOL route -
the traffic impacts of the BOL are the same as anywhere else along the route; the
only difference is who is being
impacted.